Are the Giants headed for another second-half collapse?

Tim Farrell/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger Eli Manning looks how I feel after watching the Giants lose to the Eagles Sunday night.

We've heard it over and over again from optimistic fans as well as Giants players and coaches, "this team is different," "it's a new year," "what happened in the past doesn't matter." So much so that even I, an eternal pessimist, began to actually believe them. Oh well, live and learn.

Sure the Giants are still 6-4, and tied atop the division, but losing a 2 game division lead in 2 games has got to have even the players thinking, "is this really going to happen again?"

Let's face facts, with next week's game in New Orleans (who are well rested and prepared coming off their bye week) and the following week against the Packers (who will be well rested and prepared coming off their Thanksgiving game) it is quite possible (likely even) that the Giants could be headed to Dallas in 3 weeks riding a 4 game losing streak and trailing the Cowboys by 2 games in the division. That would be a disaster.

What the hell happened?

The upset over the Patriots blinded everyone to the glaring weaknesses still clearly present with this team. Their defense is vulnerable to passes over the middle and cannot make a big stop in crunch time. They didn't against the Eagles, they didn't against the Seahawks, they didn't against the 49ers, and they even failed against the Patriots (fortunately, Eli baled them out that time). On the other side of the ball, the offensive line is absolutely awful. They've struggled to run the ball all year, but hit rock bottom against the Eagles Sunday night. They were completely outclassed by the Eagles front 4 and were the biggest reason the Giants only mustered a pathetic 10 points at home. Once the strength of this team, the offensive line is starting to look like one of it's biggest weaknesses.

I'm probably getting ahead of myself though. And maybe we shouldn't just give up on the season and start the fire Coughlin chants just yet. A win can turn things around quickly in this league. And the Giants are in desperate need of a turn around. Monday night is now a must win if the Giants are going to avoid another second half collapse.